Murray and Shapiro pack Israel’s largest auditorium

Two giants of political conservatism, Douglas Murray and Ben Shapiro, starred at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center before a sold-out crowd of more than 3,000 in what might best be described as a mutual admiration society, with the crowd applauding its pro-Israel champions as they in turn voiced esteem for Israelis’ grit and fighting spirit.

“Thank you on behalf of Western civilization for fighting the fight the rest of the West should be fighting,” Shapiro told the audience at the Freedom of Zion conference. 

He asked those with loved ones who had served in the Israel Defense Forces in the past year to stand up. Nearly all did.

“There are people here … who … put their bodies on the line defending civilization. I am merely a writer,” said Murray. “If I give you any encouragement, you should know that the encouragement you give me is 1,000-fold.”

Early reports pointed to an enormously successful event. the Jerusalem Post on Monday said that Shapiro-Murray was the hottest ticket in town, with fans “scrambling for scalped seats,” likening it to a Taylor Swift concert.

Murray and Shapiro are renowned in conservative circles. Shapiro, an American Jew, is host of a daily political podcast, and founder of media company the Daily Wire. He frequently speaks on college campuses and is the author of numerous books, including, “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans” and “The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great.”

Murray, who is from the United Kingdom, first came to prominence with his 2017 book, “The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam,” in which he warned that Europe could not survive mass Muslim migration and its loss of faith in its “beliefs, traditions, and legitimacy.” 

An outspoken defender of Israel prior to the Hamas invasion, Murray ramped up his efforts in columns and TV appearances in its wake.

Asked, “At what point did you decide to stand in the line of fire for the State of Israel and the Jewish people?” Murray suggested that a good deal of it was due to his upbringing and the values he was taught, such as distinguishing between right and wrong.

Murray also said he felt it was wildly unjust how Israel is treated abroad, particularly since the Hamas invasion, which cast into sharp relief how the Jewish nation is “the only nation in the world which, when it gets attacked, then gets attacked again.” His connection to Israel has “become personal,” he confessed. “When I read about something terrible happening here, it affects me personally, as if it’s family.”

Responding to a question about the existential threat posed to Israel by Iran, Murray said, “My hope is that whatever the Israeli military and political leadership can do, the endgame should be that the virus that has ruined Iran … is gone.”

In his speech to the conference, Shapiro stressed that the conflict Israel is fighting “is the tip of the spear in a civilizational battle.”

Shapiro lavished praise on Israel for the way it fought back after the tragedy of Oct. 7, noting that “a country that seemed to be fraying at every corner proved more durable and stronger than the social fabric of pretty much any other nation on the planet.”

He also offered constructive criticism, calling on Israel to free itself of unnecessary bureaucracy, calling that a relic of the country’s socialist past, to pave the way toward greater economic and military strength. And he called for all Israelis to take an equal share in military service, a reference to the hot-button issue in Israel of haredi Jews refusing to serve.